Review from Aquarius Records:
"Another release on the awesome Starlight Temple Society (which while now sadly defunct, seems to have mutated into Khrysanthoney, home to recent aQ faves Clair Cassis and Necktarium), this one from a mysterious European duo, whose sound is inspired by, according to the band themselves, Low, Labradford, Earth, Burzum, Skepticism, Nortt and Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg. But imagine those influences channeled into something more medieval sounding, and WAY more post rocky, a sort of droning medieval slowcore laid beneath softly buzzing metallic rumble and shimmer, and you'll get an idea of Hamnskifte's sound.
The opening track is the perfect example, the core sound, a simple minor key guitar jangle, the drums sparse and spare, the rhythm slow and stately, all beneath a gauzy layer of slo-mo glacial riffage, that sort of Earth/SUNNO))) black buzz, smeared and blurred into something much more washed out and ethereal, while beneath, the band introduce other bits of buzz and drone, what sound like accordions or harmoniums, a gorgeously smoldering blackened slowcore, meditative and hypnotic.
The next track is even more blissed out. The metal/buzz element relegated to a more minimal bit of pulsing droniness, beneath the gorgeously skeletal arrangement, the guitars crystalline and shimmery, it's not hard to imagine this being on a label like Temporary Residence, reminding us a bit of a more minimal instrumental Pinback, or even Temporary Residence unsungs Lumen.
The rest of the record unfolds similarly, the sounds laid back and languorous, a darkened slowcore/postrock hybrid, that seems to be only slightly blackened, and instead, shuffles and meanders, the sound hypnotic and mesmerizing, the arrangements simple and cyclical, droney and dreamy and surprisingly poppy.
Odds are this might get overlooked by the folks who would dig it most, considering the label, and the other way blacker and heavier bands on the label, but anyone into dark, droney minimal, brooding and beautiful slow motion post rock, this will definitely hit the spot."
